Chapter 1
It was a toss away comment Maggie made not long into their partnership. Before Jason was murdered, Christmas time had been her favorite time of year and it hadn't been the same since his death. It was now over two years into their partnership, and she was easily one of OA's best friends. He had begun to watch her heal from Jason's death, opening herself back up to life, occasionally with some gentle pushing from him, Jubal, and Kristen along the way.

Thus, he thought that this was the year that they should go to the Christmas party. 26 fed took over McSoreley's where the drinks were on a government credit card and the only food was sugar cookies. Rumor has it that they even did cliched things like an ugly sweater contest. Jubal had also promised to bring Dana with him as his date. OA had invited Mona to be his date, but she declined because it was breaking a rule. There was nothing casual or "no strings" about going somewhere where you'd be required to see friends and/or family. Honestly, that was fine with OA because it allowed him to focus on Maggie and getting her to actually go to the party.

The night of the party, he changed into a too tight, too small ugly sweater he begged Kristen to procure for him and walked into the bullpen to find Maggie slumped over her desk attempting to finish paperwork. He walked over to the slumped form and asked, "You planning on staying here the whole night?"
"Paperwork doesn't do itself," she replied with a roll of her eyes.
"And the Christmas party is only once a year," OA added. "And it happens to be tonight." Maggie spun around in her chair and flashed him a look that caused most perps to spill their guts. OA nearly laughed at the expression, but choked it down. "C'mon Mags. Let's just go down to the pub with the rest of the JOC. We could use it."

"You don't even celebrate Christmas," Maggie pointed out.
"True, but you do. And I had Kristen get an extra ugly sweater," OA pulled a truly horrible sweater out of his bag and tossed it to Maggie. She examined the sparkly Rudolph design with a smirk. "Does it mean that much to you?"
"Yes," OA said seriously enough that Maggie seemed to do a double take. He saw the moment that she lost the battle with him by the slight relaxation of her shoulders and her sigh. "You're driving," She grumbled as she pulled the sweater over her head.
"I was thinking we'd Uber or walk." OA added. Maggie raised a brow at that, but rose from her seat and followed him to the elevator. Little did either know that those were the first steps toward an unexpected future.